UN  VERS  TY  O     CALIFORNIA,  SAN  D.EGO 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   SAN  D  EGO 


3  1822017193525 


Central  University  Library 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 
Please  Note:  This  item  is  subject  to  recall. 

Date  Due 


NOV  0  8  1994 


nrr 


•  1 


UCLA  COL  U 


RECEIVFn 


2QQ7 


Cl  39  (7/93) 


UCSDLto. 


ERRATA 

Page  24.  The  concealed  One  of  Circle  in  illustration  15 
should  be  a  One  of  Bamboo. 

Page  34.  Two  points  should  be  scored  for  a  pair  of 
Dragons  in  Kxample  3. 

Page  36.  In  Example  7  the  three  Dragons  completed 
by  a  pung  should  be  exposed  at  right  with  the 
other  three  sets. 

Page  41.  Two  points  should  be  scored  for  a  pair  of 
Dragons  in  Example  14. 

Page  42.  At  top  of  page,  "Drew  to  complete  hand" 
should  read  "Punged  to  complete  hand." 

Page  44.  In  Example  18  the  three  Dragons  completed 
by  a  pung  should  be  exposed  at  right  with  the 
other  three  sets. 

In  the  same  example  "3  Dragons  (con- 
cealed ...  8"  should  read  "3  Dragons  (ex- 
posed) ....  4." 

Page  46  and  47.  East  Wind  scores  480  instead  of  608; 
West  Wind  scores  272  instead  of  400. 

Page  47.  All  Character  tiles  in  hand  of  West  Wind 
should  be  Bamboo  tiles. 

Page  48.  Lines  19  and  21  "Eight  of  Bamboo"  should 
read  "Eight  of  Character." 

Page  49.     West  Wind  scores  2562  instead  of  2816. 
Page  53.     In   North   Wind   hand  the   three   Sevens   of 
'  Circles  should  be  exposed  instead  of  in  hand. 

Page  54.  Lines  1  and  2.  Read  "368"  instead  of  "304," 
and  "184"  instead  of  "152." 

Page  72.  Example  3.  "26"  and  "52"  should  read  "16" 
and  "32"  respectively. 

Example  4.  Player  is  East  Wind  instead  of 
North  Wind. 


IV 

THE   GAME   OF   A    HUNDRED 
INTELLIGENCES 


Also  known  as 

MAH-DIAO 
MAH-JONG 
MAH-CHEUK 

MAH-JUCK 
and 

PE-LING 
By  L.  L.  HARR 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  Publishers 
New  York  and  London 


COPYRIGHT,  1922 

By    L.    L.    HARR  • 

Printed  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


NOTE 

MR.  L.  L.  HARR'S  skill  in  the  game  of  Pung  Chow  has 
been  acquired  through  more  than  twenty  years  of  inti- 
mate contact  with  the  business  arid  official  circles  of 
cultured  Chinese  in  Canton,  Shanghai,  Tientsin,  Pekin 
and  other  centers  of  China.  Mr.  Harr  has  enjoyed  more 
opportunity  to  mingle  in  polite  Chinese  society  than  any 
other  European  or  American  resident  I  knew  in  China. 

Mr.  Harr,  in  consequence,  was  perhaps  one  of  the 
first  foreigners  who  learned  the  game  from  the  best 
players  in  China.  What  is  more,  Mr.  Harr's  unusually 
keen  appreciation  and  enthusiasm  were  largely  instru- 
mental in  arousing  the  popularity  of  this  extraordinarily 
fascinating  Chinese  game  in  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
To  use  a  familiar  American  phrase,  Mr.  Harr  was  un- 
questionably one  of  the  pioneers  who  put  "PUNG 
CHOW"  on  the  map  west  of  Suez. 

Mr.  Harr  has  not  only  brought  the  game  to  America, 
but  has  written  the  first  authoritative  book  on  "Pung 
Chow,"  based  on  the  best  modern  methods  of  Chinese 
play. 

J.  D.  BUSH, 

Professor  of  English  Literature, 
Pekin  National  University, 
Pekin,  China. 

January,  1923. 


SCORE  CARD 


For  Hands  Played  \Vithout  a  Limit 

\Vinmng   Hand   Bonus   Scores 

For  Mah-Jong    20  points 

For  no  sequences  in  hand  or  on  table 10  points 

For  no  other  score  than   Mah-Jong  in  hand  or  on 

table 10  points 

For  winning  on  a  draw  from  the  loose  tiles 10  points 

For  drawing  the   winning  piece 2  points 

For  filling  in  the  only  place  to  win .,,*.     2  points 

Combination  Scores 

On  Table       In  Hand 
(Exposed)    (Concealed) 
For  3  of  a  kind  of  twos,  threes,   fours, 

fives,  sixes,  sevens  or  eights 2  points      4  points 

For  3  of  a  kind  of   ones,  nines,  winds 

or  dragons 4  points      8  points 

For  4  of  a  kind  of  twos,  threes,  fours, 

fives,  sixes,  sevens  or  eights 8  points     16  points 

For  4  of  a  kind   of   ones,  nines,   winds 

or  dragons 16  points    32  points 

For  a  pair  of  any  dragon  or  the  player's 

own   wind 2  points 

Doubling   Honors 

For  three  .(or  .four)  green  dragons,  double  total  score  once. 
For  three  (or  four)  red  dragons,  double  total  score  once. 
For  three  (or  four)  white  dragons,  double  total  score  once. 
For  three  (or  four)  of  own  wind,  double  total  score  once. 
For  having  all  one  suit  except  honor  pieces, 

double  total  score  once. 

For  all  one  suit,  double  total  score  3  times. 

For  all  honor  pieces,  double  total  score  3  times. 

For  winning  on  original  hand  as  drawn  from  the  wall, 

double  total  score  3  times. 
See  page  65  for  scoring  values  when  hands  are  played  with  a  limit 


INTRODUCTION 

OUT  of  China  has  come  this  stately  game  with  the  lure 
of   Oriental   mysticism   to   whet   jaded   appetites   and 
with  possibilities  for  study  that  challenge  the  keenest  intel- 
ligence. 

There  is  a  mysticism  about  the  Oriental  and  his  mode  of 
life  that  challenges  the  imagination  and  induces  a  curiosity 
hard  to  decipher.  The  dress  of  the  Chinese,  their  strange 
customs,  their  difficult  language,  and  their  apparently  impen- 
etrable mask-like  faces  appeal  to  the  fancy  and  throw  a  veil 
of  mystery  around  even  the  commonplace. 

The  origin  of  this  game  is  lost  in  the  mist  of  centuries 
past.  There  is,  though,  an  oral  tradition  to  the  effect  that 
it  was  originated  in  the  Court  of  the  King  of  Wu,  now 
known  as  Ning-Po,  during  the  year  of  472  B.  C.  to  enter- 
tain his  consort  and  her  court  ladies  and  to  help  them  while 
away  the  time  which  lay  heavily  on  their  hands.  This  was 
about  the  time  of  Confucius.  It  is,  however,  known  to 
have  been  the  Royal  game,  restricted  to  the  use  of  Emperors 
and  their  friends  of  the  Mandarin  class  for  two  thousand 
years.  To  them  it  was  known  as  Pe-Ling  (pronounced  Bah- 
Ling)  taking  its  name  from  the  "bird  of  a  hundred  intel- 
ligences," the  lark-like  creature  sacred  in  the  Chinese 
faith  which  now. may  be  seen  reproduced  on  most  Chinese 
tapestries  and  embroideries.  The  penalty  paid  by  one  of  any 
other  class  for  playing  Pe-Ling  at  that  time,  was  the  loss  of 
his  head.  Later — no  one  knows  just  when — the  privilege 
of  playing  this  wonder  game  was  extended  to  the  merchant 
or  middle  classes — and  when,  some  70  years  ago — a  social 


uprising  threatened,  one  of  the  concessions  granted  to  calm 
the  unrest  was  the  universal  privilege  of  playing  this  game. 
In  this  way  was  caused  the  confusion  of  names  for  the  game 
which  exists  even  to-day  in  China;  for,  with  the  abolishing 
of  Pe-Ling,  each  province  applied  their  own  name  and  pro- 
nunciation to  the  game,  with  the  result  that  now  we  have 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  different  names,  by  which  the  game 
is  known.  A  few  of  these  are  Ma-Cheuk,  Mah-Jong,  Mah- 
Juck,  Mah-Diao  and  Mah-Jongg. 

Fung  Chow  is  made  to  withstand  the  climatic  conditions 
which  soon  destroy  the  article  imported  under  the  name  of 
Mah-Jongg  and  the  other  corruptions  of  Mah-Diao,  and  it 
is  the  true  and  original  Chinese  game  translated  by  the  ad- 
dition of  numerals  just  enough  to  be  readily  understood  and 
not  enough  to  spoil  the  artistry  of  the  tiles.  The  addition 
of  numerals  has  been  overdone  in  the  marking  of  many  of 
the  cheaper  imported  sets,  and  give  the  appearance  of  having 
had  numerals  sprinkled  on  them  regardless  of  where  they 
may  land  and  permitted  to  stay. 

The  fundamentals  of  this  game  are  simple  and  require 
only  practice  to  master.  The  science  of  Pung  Chow  must 
in  the  greater  part  be  studied  out  by  the  individual  player 
and  one  may  spend  the  rest  of  his  life  in  attaining  to  past 
mastery  in  its  thousand-fold  intricacies. 


SUMMARY  OF  THE  GAME 

BEFORE  going  thoroughly  into  the  details  of  the  play- 
ing of  the  game,  it  is  better  to  give  a  general  view  of 
the  play  and  its  object. 

Pung  Chow  is  played  by  thoroughly  shuffling  all  of  the 
tiles  face  down  in  the  middle  of  the  table,  and  forming  them 
in  a  double-tiered,  hollow  square,  called  the  wall.  This  wall 
is  then  broken  at  some  point  determined  by  the  dice  and  each 
player  draws  an  original  hand  of  13  tiles.  This  leaves  about 
two-thirds  of  the  wall  intact,  and  the  rest  of  the  play  is 
devoted  to  drawing  and  discarding  from  this  remainder  of 
the  wall ;  each  player  improving  and  matching  his  own  in- 
dividual hand  until  having  arranged  it  into  four  sets  and 
a  pair,  some  player  wins.  A  set  is  three  of  a  kind,  four 
of  a  kind  or  three  in  a  sequence.  Every  set  has  a  scoring 
value,  and  the  players  add  their  scores  and  settle  after  every 
hand.  A  player  may  win  with  a  score  as  low  as  22  points 
or  scores  may  run  to  380,928  points.  These  possibilities  will 
unfold  as  the  following  pages  on  the  details  of  the  play  are 
read. 


©  •&• 


n  H.I  in  «i 
i  \v\ 


\\l 


N 


E  .^        W. 


Illustration  No.  1 

The  thirty-four  different  tiles  and  the  counters 
10 


DESCRIPTION  OF  TILES 

THE  game  is  played  with   136  tiles,  which  are  divided 
into    four   distinct   and   separate   suits.        These    four 
suits  are  called  the  Bamboo.  Dot,  Character  and  Honor  Suits. 

• 

The  first  three  of  these  suits  score  equally  and  are  ar- 
ranged in  the  same  manner,  that  is,  there  are  36  tiles  in  each, 
numbering  from  one  to  nine,  and  there  are  four  tiles  of  each 
numeral. 

The  fourth  suit,  known  as  the  honor  suit,  is  divided  into 
three  parts:  the  Dragons,  the  Winds  and  the  Mandarins.  Of 
the  Dragons,  there  are  four  apiece  of  three  different  kinds, 
the  Red,  Green  and  White  Dragons.  The  Winds  are  North, 
South,  East  and  West  with  "four  tiles  alike  for  each.  The 
Mandarins  (also  called  Seasons,  and  Flowers},  are  8  in  num- 
ber, and  as  they  are  only  used  in  limit  hands,  will  be  dis- 
cussed later. 

From  Illustration  No.  2  a  player  will  see  that  there  are 
four  of  every  different  tile  in  the  set,  and  that  there  are  34 
different  tiles. 


11 


bftjMtjMi 

& 

1$ 

~Q 

Ml 

Mi:  'Mi 

.  4            i 

«-u 
z  *-n 

si? 

•  —  •  —  ~i 

*Q 

Ml 

Mi.Mi 

~J 

*~* 

,^.^ 

Ml 

Mt|Mi 

I-* 

/K                ^s    " 

t\$    ~Q 

J^> 

j* 

J^v 


c 
Q 


ail 

.    "•  H 


raran. 

DilHM 


H  -  iii 
ruiaiu 
r.naui 


v-»r^  jjl«"   «*«*« 
*"«    ••^•"•fc* 

*1*^*1B*  *V^  '"• 


^ 


na    »««i 


»-  4  »  :  I 


12 


5.< 

j,^*1*  »»-«*«•  j   j^^^ 

,  .  4     -^ 


PROCEDURE  OF  PLAY 
A.     EAST  WIND. 

Position  of  the  players  for  the  first  game  is  determined  by 
a  throw  of  the  dice ;  all  players  throw  once,  the  one  throwing 
the  highest  number  becoming  first  East  Wind.  In  the  event 
of  a  tie,  players  tieing  throw  again.  The  player  sitting  op- 
posite East  Wind  will  be  known  as  West  Wind,  to  the  right 
of  East  Wind  as  South  Wind,  and  the  the  left  of  East  Wind, 
as  North  Wind.  The  dice  need  only  be  thrown  to  de- 
termine East  Wind  for  the  first  game  of  an  evening's  play, 
for  if  the  player  representing  East  Wind  wins,  or  if  the  game 
is  a  draw,  he  remains  East  Wind.  If  he  loses,  the  player  to 
his  right  becomes  East  Wind,  he  in  turn  becoming  North 
Wind. 

East  Wind  is  sometimes  called  Banker,  for  he  must  pay 
double  stakes  when  he  loses,  and  wins  double  stakes  when  he 
wins. 


West 


North 


South 


East 

Illustration  No.  3. 
Positions   of    Winds   about    Table. 

B.     BUILDING  AND  BREAKING  THE  WALL 

Before  building  the  wall  the  tiles  must  all  be  turned  face 
down  on  the  table  and  thoroughly  shuffled.  Then  each 
player  proceeds  to  build  one  side  of  the  wall  by  taking  34 


13 


of  the  tiles  at  random,  and  arranging  them  side  by  side  in  a 
row  17  tiles  long  and  2  tiers  high. 


Illustration  No.  4. 

Each  player  then  moves  his  side  of  the  wall  forward,  the 
four  sides  forming  a  hollow  square.  This  represents  a 
Chinese  wall  or  fort  common  in  the  protection  of  cities. 


Illustration  No.  5. 

To  find  the  point  at  which  the  wall  is  to  be  broken,  East 
Wind  always  throws  the  dice.  The  number  thrown  will 
indicate  the  player  who  is  to  break  the  wall.  The  player 
is  found  by  East  Wind  counting  around  the  table  to  the 
right,  starting  with  himself  as  "one,"  until  he  reaches  the 
number  thrown  which  will  designate  the  player  to  break  the 
wall. 

14 


w 

3-7-11 

N 

S 

4-8-12 

2-6-10 

E 

5-9 

Illustration  No.  6. 


In  this  illustration,  if  East  Wind  threw  a  "7,"  starting 
with  himself  as  one,  South  would  be  2,  West  3,  North  4, 
East  5,  South  6,  and  West  7,  designating  West  as  the  player 
to  break  the  wall. 

The  player  who  has  been  designated  to  break  the  wall 
then  throws  the  dice  to  determine  the  exact  tile  at  which  he 
shall  break  the  wall,  adding  this  throw  to  East  Wind.  This 
sum  will  indicate  the  tile  at  which  the  wall  is  to  be  broken, 
the  player  to  break  the  wall  counting  the  sum  off  from  the 
right  end  of  his  own  side,  i.e.,  if  14  in  the  sum  of  the 
two  throws,  the  wall  will  be  broken  by  lifting  out  the  I4th 
tile  from  the  right  with  the  one  under  it  and  placing  both 
on  the  top  of  the  wall  to  the  right  of  where  it  was  broken. 
These  two  are  called  loose  tiles  and  they  mark  the  end  of  the 
wall. 


Illustration  No.  7. 
15 


East  Wind  threw  "7"  indicating  West  Wind  as  the  wall- 
breaker.  West  Wind  then  threw  "7"  designating  the  14th  tile  from 
the  right  end  of  his  side  of  the  wall,  as  the  exact  spot  where  the 
wall  was  to  be  broken.  The  loose  tiles  are  shown  in  correct 
position. 

C.  DRAWING  THE  ORIGINAL   HAND: 

Each  player  then  draws  the  13  tiles  which  go  to  make  up 
his  original  hand.  East  Wind  starts  the  drawing  by  taking 
the  first  four  tiles  (2  blocks  of  2  each)  at  the  beginning  of 
the  wall,  the  player  on  his  right  the  next  four  and  so  on 
around  the  table  three  times  which  will  give  each  player  12 
tiles.  Then  one  tile  apiece  is  drawn  in  regular  order  giving 
every  player  13  tiles,  except  East  Wind  who  draws  an  extra 
tile  as  he  must  make  the  first  discard. 

D.  PLAYING  THE  HAND: 

Each  player  then  takes  his  original  hand  and  arranges  it  to 
suit  his  own  convenience.  It  is  advised,  however,  that  he 


Illustration  No.  8. 

The  wall — after  the  original  hands  have  been  drawn. 
Wall  showing  draw. 

16 


arrange  it  in  suits  in  order  to  see  at  a  glance,  the  value  of 
any  one  tile  to  his  hand  in  the  drawing  and  discarding  of 
which  the  rest  of  the  game  consists. 

When  the  hands  have  been  arranged,  East  Wind  starts  the 
play  by  discarding  any  tile  in  his  hand,  face  up  in  the  center 
of  the  table.  It  is  because  of  this  first  discard  that  he  drew 
an  extra  tile.  The  play  then  goes  to  the  right,  it  becoming 
the  turn  of  South  Wind  to  draw  the  next  tile  in  the  wall 
and  discard  any  one  he  may  choose.  West  Wind  then  draws 
and  discards  and  so  on  around  the  table,  constantly  in  a 
counter  clockwise  direction. 

The  players  during  this  drawing  and  discarding  are  grad- 
ually improving  their  hands,  and  matching  them  into  four 
sets  and  an  extra  tile,  a  set  being  three  of  a  kind,  four  of  a 
kind,  or  three  in  a  sequence. 

*•***»»     *  *.*'     >'•»"  7» 

^    /^    /?^  <<&.     7T       k 


ViV;! 


V    -1"  '•"  '^ /^ 

'III   HI    KI    Hf 

sTa  t  BBS s7s  l  ill  ?•;   ;;; 

Illustration  No.  9. 

Examples  of 
Three  of  a  kind  Four  of  a  kind  Three  in  sequence 

When  a  player  accomplishes  this,  he  must  only  match  the 
extra  tile  forming  a  pair  and  thus,  completing  his  hand,  having 
four  complete  sets  and  a  pair.  He  announces  "Mah-Jongg" 

17 


wins,  the  game  is  over,  the  scores  are  settled  and  the  wall 
built  up  for  the  next  game. 


m  0    • 
0  ©  §)     > 


gi'ov    v?v  • 
@«g»        ©M  e  c  - 
©  ©'    ©  IM  ©;©• 


Illustration  No.  10. 
Several  completed  hands 

As  completing  a  hand  entirely  by  draw  from  the  wall 
would  be  a  difficult  task,  the  players  are  permitted  to  make 
use  of  any  discard,  as  it  is  discarded,  provided  they  have  the 
required  tiles  already  in  their  hand  as  explained  below  in 
"Chow"  and  "Pung." 

E.    To  CHOW: 

A  player  having  two  tiles  in  his  hand  which,  together  with 
the  tile  just  discarded  by  the  player  before  him  (to  his  left), 
would  form  a  sequence  or  run  of  three,  may  by  announcing 
"Chow"  pick  up  the  discard,  add  it  to  the  two  in  his  hand, 
and  place  the  three  in  sequence  face  up  on  the  table  to  the 
right  of  his  hand.  This  appropriating  the  discard  serves  as 


18 


the  players  draw  and  he  must  then  discard  and  the  play  goes 
on  in  the  usual  manner. 

For  example:  If  one  has  a  5-6  of  character  and  the  player 
preceding  him  discards  either  a  4  or  a  7  of  character,  he  may 
"Choiv"  the  tile,  and  discard;  or  ignore  it  and  draw  from 
the  wall  and  discard,  in  hopes  of  building  a  better  hand,  as 
often  will  be  found  advisable. 

The  main  point  to  be  remembered  in  "Choii'ing"  is  that  a 
player  may  "Chow"  only  in  his  regular  turn,  i.  e.,  he  may 
"Chow"  only  tiles  discarded  by  the  player  to  his  left  and  then 
only  when  he  has  the  other  two  tiles  in  his  hand  to  form  the 
sequence.  Sequences  can  only  be  built  up  in  sets  of  three. 


± 

"- 


-? 

3  \  Tf  ' 


Illustration  No.  11. 

In  this  illustration  the  player  having  a  4  and  6  of  character  in 
his  hand  has  "chowed"  the  5  character  which  the  player  to  his 
left  discarded  and  after  setting  out  his  sequence,  discards  himself, 
leaving  the  usual  13  tiles  in  his  hand. 

F.     To  Puxc: 

A  player  may  also  appropriate  another  player's  discard  to 
fill  a  set  of  three  of  a  kind  or  four  of  a  kind  by  announcing 
"Pung."  In  order  to  do  this,  the  player  must  have  a  pair, 
or  three  of  a  kind  in  his  hand  to  match  with  the  discard,  thus 
completing  three  or  four  of  a  kind,  which  he  places,  as  in  the 
case  of  a  "Choiv"  to  the  right  of  his  hand,  face  up  on  the 
table.  For  example:  A  player  having  a  pair  or  three  fives 
of  the  character  suit,  may  pung  when  another  player  dis- 

19 


cards  a  five  character,  expose  his  set  and  discard,  the  play 
going  on  in  the  regular  direction  from  him. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  it  to  be  the  player's  turn  to  draw 
in  order  to  "Pung"  as  it  is  in  the  case  of  a  "Chow."  A  play- 
er having  a  pair  similar  to  a  tile  discarded,  may  announce 
"Pung"  and  appropriate  the  tile,  regardless  of  who  discarded 
it  and  of  whose  turn  it  is  to  draw.  Also  after  a  player 
"Pungs"  and  discards,  the  play  goes  on  from  him  to  the  right. 
It  can  be  seen  that  due  to  pung'mg  one  or  even  two  players 
are  liable  to  lose  their  turn. 


Illustration  No.  12. 

In  this  illustration,  East  played  in  regular  turn  and  South  drew 
the  9  character,  which,  having  no  use  for,  he  discarded.  East 
having  a  pair  of  nines  character  in  his  hand  "Punged,"  completing 
the  set  and  causing  West  and  North  Winds  to  lose  their  turns. 
East  then  exposed  his  set  of  nines  next  to  the  sequence  of  three 
he  had  previously  chowcd  and  exposed,  discarded  and  play  went  on 
in  the  usual  routine,  North  drawing  and  discarding. 

There  are  a  few  rules  applying  to  the  "Chow"  and  "Pung." 
They  are  as  follows : 

1.  All  tiles  must  be  "punged"  or  "chowed"  as  they  are 
discarded;  for  a  tile  discarded  by  a  player  and  allowed 
to  remain  in  discard  until  the  next  player  discards,  be- 
comes "dead"  and  cannot  be  touched  during  the  rest 
of  the  game. 

2.  It  has  been  stated  that  one  cannot  "pung"  unless  it 
makes  up  three  or  four  of  a  kind.     This  is  true  with 
one  exception.     In  the  case:  when  a  tile  will  complete 

20 


a  player's  hand  allowing  him  to  "Mah-Jongg,"  the  tile 
may  be  punged.  Example:  A  player  with  four  sets 
and  an  odd  tile  may  pung  a  tile  which  matches  his  odd 
one.  The  rule  is  that  "a  player  may  at  any  time 
"Pung"  a  discard  ichicti  ii'ill  complete  his  hand  and 
allow  him  to  Mah-Jongg. 

3.  The  denomination  and  suit  of  each  tile  must  be  an- 
nounced as  it  is  discarded,  a  player  discarding  a  3  of 
character,  announcing   3   character,   to  prevent  confu- 
sion of  a  player  who  may  be  studying  his  hand.     This  is 
more  of  a  courtesy  of  'the  game,  than  a  rule. 

4.  A  "Pung"  has  precedence  over  a  "Chow"  and  if  one 
player  can  pung  the  same  discard  that  another  player 
can  chow,  the  former  has  the  right  to  appropriate  the 
tile. 

5.  If  a  player  can  pung  a  discard  which  will  complete  his 
hand  and  another  player  can  pung  the  same  discard  to 
complete  a  set,  the  former  has  the  right  to  take  the 
discard. 

6.  If  two  players  pung  the  same  tile  to  complete  their 
hands,  the  precedence  is  given  to  the  player  claiming 
the  tile  nearest  to  the  discarder  in  a  counter-clockwise 
direction  around  the  table. 


21 


FOUR  OF  A  KIND: 

Before  speaking  of  "four  of  a  kind,"  it  is  better  to  give  the 
reason  for  exposing  a  set  made  up  of  a  pair  and  a  punged  dis- 
card, and  make  clear  at  the  same  time,  what  is  to  be  done 
when  three  of  a  kind  are  completed  by  draw. 

A  set  made  up  of  a  pair  and  a  punged  discard  must  be 
"exposed"  by  setting  it  out  face  up,  on  the  table  to  the  right 
of  the  players'  tiles,  first,  to  show  to  the  other  players  that 
he  had  the  required  pair,  which  gave  him  the  right  to  ap- 
propriate the  discard,  and  secondly,  to  separate  the  set  from 
those  completed  entirely  by  draw  from  the  wall.  Sets  com- 
pleted by  help  of  an  appropriated  (punged)  discard,  have 
only  one-half  the  scoring  value  of  exactly  the  same  sets,  com- 
pleted by  draw  from  the  wall  and  kept  in  the  hand. 

Thus  there  are  many  advantages  in  drawing  the  third  tile 
to  complete  a  set  of  three  of  a  kind  when  compared  to  "pung- 
ing"  the  same,  for  in  the  former  case,  the  set  has  twice  as 
much  scoring  value,  they  are  kept  concealed  in  the  hand  and 
the  opponents  can  only  guess  as  to  how  nearly  complete  a 
concealed  hand  may  be.  A  concealed  set  is  counted  as  one 
of  the  four  sets  required  to  win,  just  as  an  exposed  set  would 
be,  and  a  player  having  a  set  of  three  of  a  kind  concealed 
has  very  good  chances  of  filling  it  and  thus  forming  four 
of  a  kind  which  counts  a  great  deal  higher. 

A  player  may  complete  a  set  of  four  of  a  kind  either  by 
draw  from  the  wall  or  "punging"  an  opponent's  discard,  if 
he  has  three  of  a  kind  already  in  his  hand.  In  either  case  he 
must  place  the  completed  set  on  the  table  to  the  right  of  his 
tiles;  all  four  face  up  if  he  "punged"  the  fourth,  the  two 
end  tiles  face  down  if  he  has  "drawn"  the  fourth. 

22 


The  player  must  immediately  draw  a  "loose  tile"  (one  of 
the  two  tiles  on  top  of,  and  marking  the  end  of  the  wall). 
Usually  the  one  farthest  from  the  end  is  taken,  the  one  on 
the  end  moved  up,  and  replaced  by  a  tile  from  the  end  of 
the  wall  itself. 

The  "loose  tile"  was  drawn  because  every  time  a  player 
completes  a  set  of  four  of  a  kind,  he  causes  the  rest  of  his 
hand  to  be  one  tile  short.  This  must  be  made  up  every  time 
four  of  a  kind  is  rilled  by  an  extra  tile  drawn  from  the  "loose" 
tiles. 


0  „ .  „    (& 


II      1,1 
II      IEI 


•«« 
Illustration  No.  13. 


In  this  illustration  the  player  had  three  one  dots  in  his  hand 
when  one  of  the  opponents  discarded  the  fourth  one  dot.  This 
player  "pungcd"  it,  matched  the  four  of  a  kind,  exposed  them, 
drew  a  "loose  tile"  and  discarded. 


RSi  si 
55  • 


Illustration  No.  14. 

In  this  illustration  the  player  had  three  one  dots  in  his  hand 

23 


and  drew  the  fourth  in  his  regular  turn  to  draw.  This  set  counts 
in  scoring  as  much  as  it  would  in  his  hand  but  must  be  exposed  in 
order  to  draw  the  "loose  tile."  Therefore  the  end  tiles  are  turned 
down  to  show  that  in  counting  the  score  that  the  set  is  counted  as 
if  it  were  held  in  the  hand. 

I  *>  "Slip.!*'  V     •>> 

Illustration  No.  15. 

In  this  illustration  the  player  has  one  set  of  3  one  dots  punged 
and  completed,  and  is  now  trying  to  match  up  the  rest  of  his  hand. 
If  another  player  discards  a  one  dot  he  cannot  touch  it  and  must 
let  it  go  by.  However,  if  he  draws  the  fourth  one  dot  himself, 
he  may  add  it  on  to  his  set  of  3,  draw  a  loose  tile  and  discard 
as  usual.  As  can  be  seen  from  the  last  three  illustrations,  the 
rule  in  the  case  of  four  of  a  kind  is  as  follows  : 

In  any  set  which  a  player  may  have  exposed  on  the  table 
there  must  not  be  more  than  (l)  punged  tile. 

A  player  having  three  of  a  kind  in  his  hand  may  pung  the 
fourth  when  it  is  discarded  or  having  three  of  a  kind  on  the 
table  and  drawing  the  fourth  may  add  it  to  his  3  exposed 
tiles.  The  rule,  however,  bars  him  from  appropriating  some 
one  else's  discard  to  make  a  fourth  for  an  exposed  set  of  three 
of  a  kind  because  in  order  to  appropriate  this  discard  he  would 
have  to  pung  it.  This  he  has  not  the  privilege  of  doing, 
because  he  already  must  have  one  "punged"  tile  in  his  ex- 
posed set  or  it  wouldn't  be  exposed. 


MAH-JONIGG  OR   MAH  DIAO 

As  has  been  mentioned  before  when  a  player  has  matched 
his  hand  into  four  (4)  sets  and  by  a  draw  or  a  pung  lias 
mated  the  final  pair  he  wins  and  announces  "Mah-Jongg" 
or  "Mah-Diao"  (Dee-O),  either  being  correct  and  in  com- 
mon usage,  the  latter  being  the  most  logical  because  of  its 

24 


English  translation  "mating  the  pair."  A  player  must  at 
all  times  during  the  game  have  thirteen  (13)  tiles,  his  draw 
every  round  momentarily  giving  him  fourteen  (14),  his  dis- 
card leaving  him  the  thirteen  (13).  Then  for  every  four 
of  a  kind  that  he  fills  he  should  have  an  extra  tile  in  his 
hand  on  account  of  the  extra  loose  tile  draw. 

Thus  one  is  able  at  any  time  during  the  game  to  check 
his  hand  and  ascertain  whether  or  not  he  has  the  correct 
number  of  tiles  in  it.  If  he  has  not  sets  of  four  of  a  kind 
he  should  have  thirteen  tiles  in  his  hand.  If  he  has  one 
set  of  four  of  a  kind  he  should,  have  fourteen  tiles  in  hi? 
hand,  two  sets  of  four  of  kind  15  tiles,  and  so  on. 

If,  at  any  time  during  the  game,  a  player  has  an  incor- 
rect number  of  tiles  in  his  hand,  it  becomes  "dead."  He 
must  continue  drawing  and  discarding,  but  when  the  scores 
are  settled  his  score  does  not  count  and  therefore  he  must 
pay  all  players.  His  only  chance  lies  in  endeavoring  to 
prevent  the  other  players  from  completing  their  hands,  by 
holding  the  tiles  which  he  believes  they  need  and  thus  caus- 
ing a  draw  game. 

SETTLING  THE  SCORES 

When  the  first  player  to  complete  his  hand  calls  "Mah- 
Jongg"  the  game  is  ended,  and  all  players  expose  their  hands 
and  count  up  their  scores.  The  winner  of  the  game  collects 
full  value  of  his  score  from  each  of  the  other  players  and 
throwing  his  hand  into  the  discard  is  thru  for  that  game. 

The  remaining  three  players  then  settle  among  them- 
selves the  difference  of  their  scores,  the  high  hand  of  the 
three  collecting  the  difference  between  his  score  and  each 
of  the  remaining  two  players.  Then  throwing  his  hand  into 

25 


the  discard,  leaves  the  remaining  two  to  settle  their  scores, 
the  highest  hand  of  which  collects  the  difference. 

It  must  be  remembered  here  that  East  Wind  (or  banker) 
pays  or  collects  double,  if  he  loses  or  wins. 

Scores  are  most  conveniently  settled  by  the  use  of  the 
counters  which  are  furnished  with  the  sets.  These  are 
spotted  to  denote  different  denominations  and  at  the  end  of 
every  hand  the  actual  scores  or  differences  in  scores  are 
settled  between  players  by  the  exchange  of  these  counters. 
There  are  several  styles  of  counter  sets.  The  one  in  most 
common  usage  contains  counters  valued  as  follows: 

---•<* 

Points 

I   Gold  dot    1 ,000 

5  Black  dots   500 

1  Black   dot    100 

10  Red  dots    10 

2  Red  dots    2 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  CAREFUL  PLAYING  OF 
HANDS 

In  a  game  of  this  nature  where  every  hand  is  different 
from  the  preceding  one  and  so  much  depends  on  the  draw, 
it  is  very  hard  to  lay  down  any  specific  rules  of  how  it 
should  be  played.  There  are,  however,  a  few  points  which 
would  help  if  kept  in  mind  during  the  play.  A  player 
should  study  his  original  hand  and  after  the  first  few  draws 
and  discards  form  a  general  plan  of  what  he  is  going  to 
try  and  fill  in  his  hand  and  decide  on  how  high  a  score 
he  will  have  a  good  chance  of  making.  This  will  be  de- 
cided by: 

26 


1.  The  condition  of  his  own  hand. 

2.  The  discards  of  the  other  three  players. 

If  he  has  an  exceptionally  strong  hand  in  any  one  suit 
he  will  play  for  that  suit  regardless  of  the  other  players. 
If  he  has  a  well-divided  hand,  by  watching  the  other  players' 
discards,  he  will  be  able  to  form  a  fairly  good  opinion  of 
what  they  are  doing  with  their  hand. 

After  judging  his  hand,  visualizing  the  sort  of  hand  that 
he  is  to  try  to  fill,  he  should  use  his  own  judgment  in 
drawing  and  discarding,  constantly  watching  his  own  hand 
for  opportunities  and  his  opponents'  discards  for  disclosures, 
and  upon  the  slightest  suspicion  that  one  of  these  opponents 
is  nearing  the  completion  of  his  hand,  should  immediately 
forego  any  thoughts  of  a  higher  hand  himself  and  seek  to 
complete  his  own  hand  as  quickly  as  possible. 

Summing  this  up ;  a  player  should  plan  and  play  to  win 
at  all  times  with  as  high  a  hand  as  possible,  then  as  the 
wall  grows  shorter  and  the  probability  of  one  of  the  op- 
ponents completing  his  hand  grows  larger,  the  player  should 
reconsider,  and 

1.  If  he  has  at  that  stage  an  exceptionally  good   hand 
which  will  win  back  for  him  from  the  other  two  players 
that  which  he  loses  to  the  winner,  should  go  on  improving 
his  hand   and   take   the  chance  of  another  player  winning. 

2.  If   he   has  just   an   ordinarily   good   hand   he  should 
stop  playing  to  improve  his  hand  and  start  to  complete  it  as 
quickly  as  possible,  i.  e.,  form  sequences  and  mix  suits,  in 
order    to   win   before   the   other   players   and   save   himself. 

27 


3.  If  his  hand  has  not  improved  at  all  or  very  little 
since  the  beginning  of  the  game  and  he  has  small  chance  of 
completing  his  hand  in  any  way  before  some  other  player 
does,  his  only  plan  is  to  hold  the  tiles  which  he  thinks  would 
help  the  other  players  and  discard  only  those  which  he 
is  sure  they  will  not  pung.  These  tiles  can  be  ascertained 
by  carefully  searching  the  discards  in  the  center  of  the  table 
and  the  sets  already  exposed  by  the  other  players.  By  play- 
ing this  way  he  may  be  able  to  cause  the  game  to  be  a  draw. 

There  are  a  few  other  points  which  are  taken  up  in  the 
last  four  layouts  in  Part  I. 


28 


USE  OF  THE  MANDARINS 

(Flowers  and  Seasons) 

The  Mandarins,  also  called  Flowers  and  Seasons,  are 
eight  in  number,  two  for  each  of  the  four  winds.  They 
may  be  eliminated  from  the  set  and  are  not  usually  used  in 
the  play,  as  they  add  a  large  element  of  chance  into  the 
game. 

If  they  are  used,  each  side  of  the  wall  is  increased  by 
two  tiles,  making  each  side  a  double  tiered  row  of  18  tilet 
side  by  side. 

Then,  if  a  player  draws  one  of  his  own  wind  mandarins. 
he  exposes  it  on  the  table  and  draws  a  "loose  tile,"  the 
mandarin  of  his  own  wind  permitting  him  to  double  his 
score  once.  If  then  he  draws  the  other  mandarin  of  hi* 
own  wind  he  repeats  the  above  process  and  may  double  his 
total  score  again.  Where  "Seasons  and  Flowers"  are  used 
instead  of  mandarins  the  numbers  on  them,  I,  2,  3  and  4, 
represent  East,  South,  West  and  North  winds  respectively. 
The  red  numbers  are  the  "Seasons"  and  the  green  numbers 
are  the  "Flowers"  They  are  used  exactly  as  are  the  man- 
darins, i.  e.,  One's  own  "Season"  will  double  the  value  of 
his  hand,  as  will  his  own  "Flower."  Both  of  them  will 
double  the  value  twice. 

SCORE  CARD 

It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  the  scoring  values  are 
divided  into  three  parts.  First,  the  bonus  scores  which  only 
the  winner  can  use;  secondly,  the  combination  scores  which 

29 


all  four  players  can  use;  finally  the  doubling  honors  which 
all  four  players  may  use,  so  it  is  that  in  settling  the  scores 
the  winner  starts  at  the  top  with  twenty  (20)  points 
for  "Mah-Jongg"  or  for  winning  and  goes  down  the  list 
scoring  ten  points,  if  he  has  no  sequence  in  his  hand  and  so 
on  thru  the  bonus  scores,  adding  to  these  whatever  scores 
he  obtains  from  combinations  in  his  hand  or  on  the  table 
and  doubling  the  sum  as  many  times  as  he  has  doubling 
honors. 

In  the  bonus  scores  for  the  winning  hand  only  there  are 
six  items : 

1.  "Mak-Jongg"  which  gives  20  points  for  winning  the 
hand. 

2.  No  sequence  in  hand  or  on  table.     This  is  a  bonus 
of   10  points  given  to  a  player  if  he  wins  without  use  of 
sequences. 

3.  Draiving  the  winning  piece.     This  is  a  bonus  of  2 
points  given  to  the  winning  player  if  he  draws  the  tile  which, 
completes  his  hand  from  the  wall.     Of  course  punging  the 
winning  tile  will  forfeit  this  bonus. 

4.  Filling   the   only  place  to  ii'in.     This   is  a  bonus  of 
2  points  given  to  a  player  who  fills  the  only  possible  place 
to  win,  i.  e.,  winning  by  matching  the  pair  or  drawing  the 
middle  tile  of  a  sequence. 

5.  Winning  on  a  draw  from  a  loose  tile.     This  of  course- 
is  a  bonus  of  ten  points  given  to  the  winning  player  if  any 
of  his  loose  tile  draws  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  com- 
plete his  hand. 

6.  No    other  score   than   "Mah-Jongg"   in    hand    or   on 

30 


table.  This  is  a  bonus  of  ten  points  given  to  the  winning 
player  having  only  20  points  for  "Mah-Jongg"  as  his  score, 
and  is  a  hand  made  up  of  four  sequences  and  a  pair  in 
which  there  is  no  score,  a  sequence  having  no  scoring  value 
whatsoever.  Of  course  even  drawing  the  winning  piece  will 
forfeit  this  bonus  as  can  easily  be  seen. 

In  the  combination  scores  exposed  sets  are  those  on  the 
table;  face  up  to  the  right  of  the  player,  concealed  sets  are 
those  which  are  in  his  hand  at  the  time  of  winning.  As 
will  be  seen  by  the  score  card,  concealed  sets  having  been 
made  up  by  the  player  without  the  assistance  of  a  pung  or 
chow  score  twice  as  much  as  the  same  set  would  if  it  were 
on  the  table.  This  together  with  the  fact  that  sets  of  ones, 
nines,  winds  or  dragons  score  twice  as  much  as  sets  of  twos, 
threes,  fours,  fives,  sixes,  sevens  and  eights  should  be  helpful 
in  memorizing  the  score  which  is  essential  to  the  careful 
playing  of  each  hand. 

As  for  the  doubling  honors,  each  set  or  combination  doubles 
the  total  score  once,  and  if  there  are  five  doubling  honors 
in  a  hand,  the  total  score  should  be  doubled  five  times — for 
example:  a  player  goes  Mah-Jongg  or  Mah-Diao  having  32 
points  in  bonus  scores,  1 8  in  combination  scores,  making 
his  total  score  50.  Then  if  he  has  five  doubling  honors  his 
final  score  is  1,600  points,  i.  e.,  50-100-200-400-800-1,600. 


31 


EXAMPLE  OF   HANDS  AND   HOW  THEY  ARE 
SCORED 

Punged   to  complete   hand 

I 

7Jb     'A     X    '*      *     %\     ^     *J  •      •>      © 

7      T      T       T      T      3*      "^      "\          ©      0       0 


In  hand  On  table 

Example   No.    1 


For  Mah-Jongg    20 

For  Three  2  Dots 2 

22  Total  Score 
No    double    honors :  22  Final  Score 


In  this  hand  the  player  punged  the  2  dot  which  com- 
pleted his  hand,  20  for  Mah-Jongg  as  the  only  bonus  score  he 
has  because:  i.  He  has  sequences.  2.  He  did  not  dra\v 
the  winning  piece.  3.  He  did  not  fill  the  only  place  to 
win.  4.  He  has  other  score  than  Mah-Jongg.  5.  Hr 
did  not  win  on  a  loose  tile  draw.  In  combination  value,  he 
has  only  two  points  for  the  set  of  three  2  dots,  the  sets  of 
sequences  helping  complete  the  hand,  but  scoring  nothing. 
There  are  no  doubling  honors  in  the  hand  so  the  final  score  is 
22.  This  is  the  lowest  winning  hand  that  can  be  scored. 


32 


Chow 


e.       ** 
le      °e       « 


'-''-    HI   1L1 
II   HI   «" 

Example  No.  2 


Winner  chowed  the  1  character  to  complete  hand.     Score  is 
Mah-Jongg    20 

No    other     scores    on    hand    or    on 
table    .  .   10 


30  Total  Score 

No    combination    scores    or    doubling 
honors    .  .  30  Final  Score 


Drew  to  complete  hand 

+ 

I      '** 


II    II    13 
II    II    IE 


Example   No.  3 


33 


Example  No.  3 

Mah-Jongg— 20    20 

No  sequences — 10   10 

Filling  only  place  to  win — 2 2 

Drawing  wins   p. — 2 2 


34 

3  ones  concealed  8 

3  threes  concealed    4 

3  fives  exposed   2 

3  fours  exposed   2 


50  Total  Score 
No  doubling  honors :  50  Final  Score 


Drew  to  complete  hand 


til 


Example   No.  4 


Mah-Jongg    20 

No   sequence    10 

Drawing  winning  piece 2 

32 

3  sixes    (concealed)     4 

3  twos     (exposed)     2 

3  dragons    (exposed)     4 

3  threes    (exposed)    2 


44  Total  Score 
Double  once  for  red  dragons 88  Final  Score 

34 


Drew  to  complete  hand 

I 
S  S 

«  * 


Example   No.   5 

Mali-Jongg     20 

No  sequence 10 

Drawing   winning  piece    2 

Filling  only  place  to  win 2 


34 

3  twos    (exposed)     2 

3  nines    (exposed)    4 

3  ones   (exposed)    4 

3  dragons    (exposed)     4 


48  Total  Score 

Double  once  for  green  dragons 96 

Double    once     for    all    one    suit    except 

winds  or  dragons   .....* 192  Final  Score 

Drew  to  complete  hand 


Example  No.  6 
35 


Example  No.  6 

Mah-Jongg     20 

No  sequence  10 

Drawing  winning  piece 2 

Filling  only  place  to  win 2 


34 

4  nines  (concealed)    32 

3  sevens   (exposed)    2 

3  fours    (concealed)     4 

3  ones    (concealed)    8 


80  Total  Score 

Double  three  times  for 160 

All  one  suit   320 

640  Total  Score 


Puneed  to  comnlete  hand 


'*  '* 


I  I  I 


Example  No.  7 


Mah-Jongg     .......................  20 

No  sequence  ......................  10 

30 

4  dragons    (concealed)    ............  32 

4  winds    (exposed)     ...............  16 

3  dragons     (exposed)     ............  4 

3  dragons    (  concealed  )    ............  8 


90  Total  Score 

Double  three  times  for  all 180 

One  suit  (honor)    360 

720 

Double  once  for  red  dragons 1440 

Double  once  for  white  dragons 2880 

Double  once  for  green  dragons 5760  Total  Score 

36 


If  this  hand  is  held  by  the  East  Wind  he  may  double 
again  for  having  a  set  of  his  own  wind,  making  his  score 
11,520,  and  being  East  Wind,  he  collects  double  from  each 
player  when  he  wins,  making  his  total  23,040  from  each  of 
the  other  three  players  or  69,120  in  all. 


Punged   to   complete   hand 

I 


Example  No.  8 

Mah-Jongg   20 

No  sequence   10 


30 

3  dragons    (exposed)     4 

3  fours    (exposed)     2 

3  eights    (exposed)    2 

3  dragons    (concealed)    8 

46  Total  Score 

Double  once  for  white  dragons 92 

Double  once  for  green  dragons 184  Final  Score 


If  player  is  East  Wind,  he  collects  double,  or  368  from 
each  player.  If  any  other  wind,  he  collects  368  from  East 
Wind  and  184  from  the  other  two  players. 

37 


Chowed  to  complete  hand 


*JL    \ 


X.    ** 

3*    3* 


T 


Example  No.  9 

Mah-Jongg     20 

No  other  score  in  hand  or  on  table . .    10 


Double  three  times  for  all. 
One  suit    . 


30  Total  Score 

60 

120 

240  Final  Score 

Note :     In  this  hand  the  player  did  not  even  fill  the  only  place 
to  win  as  a  6  character  would  have  won  also. 

If  player  is  East  Wind,  he  collects  480  from  each  of  the 
other  three  players.     If  any  other  wind,  he  collects  480  from 
East  Wind  and  240  from  the  other  two  players. 
Drew   loose  tile   to   complete   hand 

I 


Example  No.  10 


38 


Example  No.  10 

Mah-Jongg  20 

No   sequence    10 

Winning  on  loose  tile  draw 10 

Drawing   winning   piece 2 

Filling  only  place  to  win 2 

44 

4  nines    (exposed)    16 

4  ones    (concealed)    32 

4  dragons    (exposed)     16 

4  dragons    (exposed)     16 


124  Total  Score 

Double  once  for  red  dragons 248 

Double  once  for  green  dragons 496  Final  Score 


Drew  to  complete  hand 

I 
'*  '*  '*  I  I  f  I   !  I  III  iii  ii!  V  V 

Example  No.  11 


Mah-Jongg    20 

No   sequence    10 

Drawing  winning  piece    2 


32 

3  winds    (concealed)    8 

3  dragons    (concealed)    8 

3  twos   (concealed)    4 

3  nines    (concealed)     8 


60  Total  Score 
Double  once   for  all  one  suit  except 

winds   or   dragons    120 

Double  once  for  red  dragons 240 

Double  once  for  own  wind 480  Final  Score 

This  illustration  assumes  player  to  be  North  Wind.  This 
player  collects  double,  or  960,  from  East  Wind  and  480 
each  from  South  and  West  Winds. 

39 


Chowed  to  complete  hand 

I 

1— »  2^  3-    tr  tr        2*   3-   4t» 


•A 


Example  No.   12 
Mah-Jongg    20 


20 

3  fives    (exposed)    2 

3  winds    (exposed )     4 

2  dragons    2 


28  Total  Score 
Double  once   for  all  one  suit  except 

winds  or   dragons 56  Final    Score 

Note :     Two  points  for  pair  of  red  dragons.     Dragons  and  own 
wind  are  only  pairs  that  score,  and  they  are  limited  to  two  points. 

Punged   to   complete   hand 


. 

©@ 

Example  No.  13 

PLAYER   IS   EAST  WIND 

Mah-Jongg    20 

No   sequence    10 

30 
40 


3  winds    (exposed)    4 

3  ones    (exposed)    4 

3  fours   (exposed)    2 

3  dragons    (exposed)     8 

48  Total  Score 
Double  once   for  all  one  suit  except 

winds  or  dragons    96 

Double  once  for  red  dragons 192 

Double  once  for  own  wind 384 

Collect     double     from     each     player 

being  east  wind  and  winning 768  Final  Score 

from  each  player 


Drew  to  complete  hand 

I 


'A  'A  'All          I  'A  '*'  I 

*  i^H  .j    •• 

'*.  '*  * 


Example  No.   14 


PLAYER  IS  WEST  WIND 

Mah-Jongg    20 

No   sequence    10 

Draw  winning  piece    2 

32 

3  winds   (concealed)    8 

3  winds   (concealed )    8 

4  winds   (concealed)    32 

3  winds    (exposed)    4 


84 

Double  3  times   for  all 168 

Suit    (honor)     336 

672 
Double  once  for  own  wind   .  ..1344 


Collects   2688    from   East  Wind   and    1344  apiece   from 
North   and   South   Winds. 

41 


PLAYER  IS  EAST  WIND 


Drew  to  complete  hand 
I 


II       If        II       II 
II       II       ff       11 


IB!      Ill 

ft          M         H 

III       §11 


EH      III 

in    §n 


Example  No.  IS 

Mah-Jongg    20 

No   sequence    10 

Only  place  to  win 2 


32 

4  ones    (concealed)    32 

4  nines    (concealed)     32 

4  fours   (exposed)    8 

4  sevens    (exposed)     8 

112  Total  Score 

Double  3  times  for  all  224 

One  suit   448 

896 

Double  once  because  player  is  East 
wind  and  won   1792  Final  Score 

from  each  player 

42 


PLAYER  is  EAST  WIND 
-   -  •*  K  *•  f  f  f  !i*  MI  1S8 

3-   *\  •*  K  ••   ft   *    fr   1M  HI   in 

Example  No.   16 
Mah-Jongg    20 

3  fours    (concealed)     20 

3  dragons    (concealed)    4 

8 


32  Total  Score 

Double  3  times  for  winning  on  orig- 
inal hand 64 

128 
256 

Double  once  for  red  dragons 512 

Collects  double  because  is  East  wind 

and    won 1024  Final  Score 

from  each  player 


PLAYER  IS  SOUTH  WIND 

Drew    to    complete    hand 


Example  No.   17 

Mah-Jongg     ......................  20 

Drawing  winning  piece  ............  2 

Filling  only  place  to   win  ..........  2 


24 
3  ones    (concealed ) 8 

3  fours    (concealed )    4 

4  winds    (concealed)    32 

2  own  wind    2 

70  Total  Score 
Double  once  for  all  one  suit  except 

winds  or  dragons    140  Final  Score 

Collects  double,  or  280,  from  East  wind;  140  from  North 
and  South  respectively. 

43 


.  ,-.10 

•III  III 

III  III 

Hi  III 

Example  No.  18 

Mah-Jongg   20 

No   sequence    10 


30 

4  ones    (concealed)    32 

4  nines   (exposed)    16 

4  nines    (concealed)     32 

3  dragons    (concealed)    8 


118  Total  Score 
Double  once  for  green  dragons ....  236  Final  Score 

Collects  double,  or  472,  from  East  wind :  236  from  West 
and  South  winds  respectively. 


•  r 
•HH 


Example  No.  19 


\ 

Chowed  to  complete  hand 


44 


PLAYER  IS  WEST  WIND 

Example  No.  19 
Mah-Jongg    20 

20 

3  winds  (concealed)  8 

3  dragons  (exposed)  4 


32 
Double  once  for  all  one  suit  except 

winds  or   dragons    64 

Double  once  for  white  dragons 128 

Double  once  for  own  wind 256 

Collects  512  from  East  wind,  256  from  North  and  South, 
respectively. 

PLAYER  IS  EAST  WIND 


t 

Drew  from  loo«o  tiles 
to  complete  hand 


ill 


Example  No.  20 

Mah-Jongg    20 

No   sequence    10 

Winning  on  loose  tile  draw 10 

Drawing    winning    piece    2 

Filling  only  place  to  win 2 

44 

4  dragons  (concealed)  32 

4  dragons  (concealed)  32 

4  dragons  (concealed)  32 

45 


4  winds    (concealed'     . . , 32 


172  Total  Score 
Double  3  times   for  all  of   one  suit 

(honor)     344 

688 
1376 

Double  once  for  green  dragons ....  2752 
Double  once  for  white  dragons ....  5504 

Double  once  for  red  dragons 11008 

Double  once  for  own  wind 22016 

Double  once  because  everyone  must 
pay  East  wind  double  when  he 
wins  44032  Final  Score 

East  wind  collects  this  amount  from  each  of  the  other 
three  players,  making  a  total  of  132,096  points  that  East 
may  win  in  one  hand.  This  is  the  highest  hand  which  is 
probable.  There  is  a  hand  composed  of  sets  of  3  of  a  kind, 
similar  to  this,  which,  if  drawn  on  the  original  draw,  will 
yield  more  points  than  this,  but  it  is  highly  improbable  that 
the  hand  will  ever  actually  be  drawn  by  any  given  player. 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  SCORE  SETTLING 
In  the  four  layouts  following,  the  illustrations  represent 
all  the  hands  together  as  they  are  laid  down  after  one  of 
the  players  wins.  They  serve  to  clear  up  "settling"  of  the 
scores  and  also  bring  out  important  points  in  the  playing 
of  the  hands.  In  each  case  the  score  of  the  four  players  is 
given  in  total  and  practice  in  the  calculating  of  scores  can 
be  obtained  by  beginners  by  scoring  these  hands  and  com- 
paring their  results  with  the  given  scores. 

West  Wind 
400 


North  Wind 
16 


South  Wind 
64 


East  Wind 
608 

46 


South  Wind  64 

S*x\  355 


„-<* 


00 

<"•   I 

.4*        > 


W 


%r  in 


North  Wind  16 
47 


East  Wind  "Mah-Jongged"  with  a  total  score  of  608 
points.  He  collects  double  this  amount  from  each  of  the 
other  three  winds  because  he  is  East  Wind,  and  winning, 
collects  double.  This  makes  1216  from  each  player  or  a 
total  of  3648.  He  then  throws  his  hand  into  the  discard 
and  the  other  three  players  settle,  the  high  hand  collecting 
the  difference  between  his  hand  and  the  remaining  two.  In 
the  illustration,  West  Wind  is  the  high  hand  and  he  col- 
lects 336  from  South  Wind  and  484  from  North  Wind, 
the  difference  between  his  hand  and  those  of  South  and  North 
Winds,  respectively.  He  then  discards  his  hand  and  leaves 
the  South  and  North  Winds  to  settle.  They  do  this  by 
South  Wind  collecting  48  points  from  North;  both  dis- 
card their  tiles,  and  the  scores  are  settled.  It  might  be  best 
here  to  analyze  the  above  layout  to  see  how  the  play  went. 
East  Wind's  hand  appeared  harmless  enough  because  he 
had  most  of  it  concealed,  only  exposing  two  sets.  On  this 
account,  none  of  the  other  opponents  would  hesitate  about 
discarding  the  eight  of  bamboo  which  allowed  him  to  Mah- 
Jongg.  North  and  South  Winds  having  poor  hands  them- 
selves might  have  held  the  eight  of  bamboo  and  not  have 
taken  a  chance  on  it  "putting  him  out"  if  they  had  been 
warned  how  near  he  was  to  winning,  for  West  Wind  had 
an  exceptionally  fine  hand  with  the  best  part  of  it  concealed 
and  he  won  back  from  North  and  South  Winds  more  than 
half  of  his  payment  to  East,  the  winner. 

North  and  South  Winds  fell  in  a  conflict  of  suits,  one 
of  the  most  frequent  occurrences  of  the  game  and  one  which 
spoils  a  great  many  otherwise  good  hands.  They  were 
both  attempting  to  complete  "all  dot"  hands  and  each  has 
two  conflicting  pairs,  namely,  5  and  6  of  dots.  Either  of 

48 


<•)     • 


South  Wind  8 
|S*   '*     '     fl       W^     ' 


•§ 


CHOW 

4- 

'—  *     '     ****** 


©  © 


to*    to*  00 


T     3" 


North  Wind  22 
49 


them  to  win  can  only  have  one  pair  in  their  hand,  and  each 
was     holding     the     other     from     any     chance     of     winning 

When  two  players  play  for  the  same  suit,  it  is  best  for  both 
to  give  up  any  idea  of  obtaining  all  of  one  suit,  and  fill  in  the 
hand  with  one  or  two  sets  of  winds  or  dragons.  Very 
often  one  can  get  three  doubles  in  this  way  when  it  would 
be  impossible  to  complete  a  hand  of  all  one  suit. 

NORTH  WIND  MAH-JONGGS 

North  Wind  Mah-Jonggs  with  22  points  as  his  total  score. 
He  collects  22  points  apiece  from  North  Wind  and  South 
Wind.  East,  however,  must  pay  him  double  or  44,  being 
banker  and  losing.  This  gives  North  Wind  a  total  of  88. 
The  other  three  then  settle  West  Wind  with  a  total  ot 
2816;  collects  the  difference  between  his  hand  and  East 
Wind's  which  is  2814,  doubled  because  he  won  from  East 
Wind  and  East  Wind  must  pay  double  when  he  loses.  This 
gives  West  Wind  5628  from  East  Wind,  and  just  the  dif- 
ference in  their  hands  from  South  Wind  which  is  2808. 
Then  South  Wind  in  settling  with  East  Wind  collects  the 
difference,  4,  double  or  8.  This  layout  demonstrates  the 
point  that  it  is  not  always  necessary  to  Mah-Jongg  or  win, 
in  order  to  take  in  the  highest  number  of  points.  North 
Wind  "Mah-Jongged"  and  collected  only  88  points,  whereas 
West  Wind  collected  a  total  of  8,436  points.  What  evi- 
dently took  place  in  this  hand  goes  as  follows:  West  Wind 
was  exceptionally  fortunate  in  the  draw  and  soon  had  three 
sets  of  winds  and  dragons  exposed,  or  on  the  table.  The 
other  three  players  seeing  in  this  a  dangerous  hand,  "ran 
for  cover,"  this  consisting  of  gathering  all  the  sequences 
possible  together,  and  mixing  the  suits.  By  doing  this  a 

50 


.'•  E  I 

s 
M 


o© 


South  Wind  10 


i"    HI    "I 
mm    HI 


-••> 


I   I  I    A    A         S  S  » 

9     9    W  <*•*««•«*• 


0      0 

©      0) 


North  Wind  416 
51 


player  can  very  quickly  complete  his  hand  and  win,  although 
his  score  will  be  low  when  he  does  win.  However,  the  one 
who  does  "Mah-Jongg,"  no  matter  how  low  his  score  may  be, 
collects  that  amount,  and  escapes  any  exceptionally  high 
scoring  hands  which  the  other  players  may  hold.  In  this 
case  it  was  North  Wind  who  won  out  and  avoided  paying 
many  points  to  West  Wind  by  doing  so. 

NORTH  WIND  MAH-JONGGS 

In  the  above  layout,  North  Wind  winning,  scores  416; 
West  Wind  64;  South  Wind  10,  and  East  Wind  56;  North 
Wind  then  takes  832  from  East  Wind,  and  416  from  West 
and  South  Winds.  West  Wind  collects  54  from  South 
Wind  and  16  from  East  Wind;  East  Wind  then  collects 
46  doubled  or  92  from  South  Wind. 

In  this  game  both  North  and  West  Winds  played  for  all 
dot  hands;  North  Wind  foreseeing  this  early  in  the  game 
filled  in  his  hand  with  winds  and  dragons,  in  this  way  win- 
ning out  over  West  Wind ;  East  Wind  starting  with  a  pair 
of  green  dragons  kept  them  until  he  had  all  characters  except 
the  pair.  Then  came  the  time  for  him  to  decide  on  whether 
he  would  discard  the  pair  and  try  to  fill  an  all  character 
hand,  or  use  the  dragons.  He  decided  on  the  latter  because 
looking  at  North  Wind's  exposed  tiles  he  saw  that  North 
Wind  was  dangerously  near  to  winning.  He  filled  his 
dragons  and  attempted  to  win  as  quickly  as  possible,  almost 
succeeding  and  needing  only  one  tile  to  complete  his  hand. 

52 


South  Wind  48 


•g  ^  5i= 

*->  *  _• 

«  „  .a^ 

^  I  V>  -•— 


© 


North  Wind  152 
53 


NORTH  WIND  MAH-JONGGS 

North  Wind  "Mah-Jongged,"  collects  304  from  East  and 
152  from  West  and  South  respectively.  Then — East  Wind 
collects  1 6  doubled  or  32  from  West  and  32  doubled  or  64 
from  South.  West  Wind  wins  16  from  South  \vho  is  the 
loser  all  around.  E;ist  Wind's  difficulty  above  was  that  he 
decided  on  all  bamboo  hand  at  the  start  of  the  game  with 
out  having  a  sufficient  number  of  pairs  in  that  suit.  The 
result  was  that  by  the  time  that  he  dreiv  the  pairs  and  was 
ready  to  pung  discards  the  other  players  had  already  dis- 
carded a  number  of  tiles  which  he  needed  in  his  hand.  They 
were  then  dead.  The  result  of  all  this  can  be  seen  in  his 
hand  above;  he  has  still  two  pairs  and  a  sequence  to  fill  and 
the  particular  tiles  needed  to  do  this  (the  4,  5  and  8  of 
bamboo)  have  probably  all  been  discarded  early  in  the  game 
by  the  other  players.  The  point  thus  illustrated  being:  It 
is  not  advisable  to  attempt  the  completing  of  a  suit  which 
all  the  other  players  are  discarding  unless  sufficient  pairs 
are  held  from  the  start  to  withstand  their  attacks. 


PART  TWO 
PLAYING  WITH  A  LIMIT 


PLAYING  WITH  A  LIMIT 

Pung-Chow,  as  it  has  been  described  in  the  foregoing 
pages,  represents  the  game  as  it  is  played  with  unlimited 
hands,  that  is  where  no  limits  are  set  on  the  number  of  points 
permissible  in  the  score  of  a  hand.  It  is  impractical,  how- 
ever, to  play  with  unlimited  hands  in  a  game  where  a  stake 
has  been  set  due  to  the  inconsistencies  of  the  winning  hand 
scores;  one  may  win  with  a  hand  of  200,000  points,  whereas 
the  ordinary  or  average  winning  hand  numbers  approximately 
only  500  to  1,000. 

On  this  account  the  Chinese  use  a  lower  scoring  system 
and  set  limits  on  the  hands  whenever  placing  stakes  on  the 
game,  with  a  view  of  limiting  losses  between  all  players. 

This  setting  of  a  limit  changes  the  game  considerably, 
for  while  the  procedure  of  the  play  is  similar  to  that  of  the 
unlimited  hand,  the  scoring  is  almost  totally  different  and 
the  actual  playing  of  the  hand  is  changed. 

A  player  in  a  limited  hand  gains  nothing  by  completing 
a  hand  scoring  high  in  the  thousands  \vhen  held  down  to 
the  limit  which  is  comparatively  low.  This  changes  entirely 
the  playing  of  hands,  making  each  player's  object  no  longer 
to  score  as  high  a  hand  as  possible  and  win,  but  to  score  as 
closely  to  the  limit  as  possible  and  win,  which  in  practice 
amounts  to  completing  the  hand  as  quickly  as  possible,  mixing 
sequences  and  sets  of  all  suits  and  taking  all  good  scoring 
sets  as  they  come,  planning  for  none. 

It  can  be  seen  that  there  is  a  larger  element  of  fortune 
or  "luck"  in  this  method  of  playing  than  there  is  in  playing 
the  unlimited  hand,  though  in  either  case  the  best  player 
will  win  consistently. 

56 


THE  PROCEDURE  OF  PLAY 


Indicators 


Wind  Box 


In  playing  this  sort  of  a  game  the  wind  indicators  in  their 
container,  the  Cheung  Huen  or  wind  box,  are  always  used, 
and  their  use  changes  the  method  of  commencing  the  game. 

To  start  the  game  when  using  the  wind  markers  the  seats 
are  preliminarily  chosen  and  any  one  of  the  four  players 
throws  the  two  dice  once,  the  result  of  this  throw  deciding 
which  player  is  to  throw  again  for  playing  position.  Count- 
ing of  players  being  done  in  a  counter  clock-wise  direction 
as  previously  explained. 

The  players  thus  designated  will  shuffle  the  wind  indi- 
cators thoroughly  face  downward  and  places  any  one  of 
them  still  face  downward  on  top  of  wind  box.  He  then 
arranges  the  whole  lot  in  a  perpendicular  straight  line  in 
front  of  them  all  face  downward,  placing  the  box  with  the 
wind  indicator  still  on  top  of  it  in  any  order  he  pleases. 
(See  Illustration  No.  I.) 


Illustration  No.  1 
57 


In  this  illustration,  C  first  threw  the  dice ;  the  number 
was  seven,  deciding  A  as  the  player  who  was  to  throw  again 
for  playing  .position  or  seat.  A  has  shuffled  the  markers 
and  arranged  them  perpendicularly  in  front  of  him,  placing 
the  wind  box  in  second  position.  He  had  the  privilege  of 
placing  it  in  1st,  3rd  or  4th  position  if  he  had  chosen.  He 
then  throws  with  the  dice,  an  8 ;  this  designates  D  as  the 
player  to  take  the  first  indicator;  A  the  second  (also  the 
wind  box),  B  the  third,  and  C  the  fourth. 

He  then  throws  the  two  dice  and  the  number  thrown 
will  decide  which  player  is  to  pick  up  the  indicator  farthest 
from  him  (or  the  first  indicator  in  the  accompanying  illus- 
tration) counting  in  the  usual  manner  one  player  at  a  time 
in  counter  clock-wise  direction,  starting  with  himself  as  I. 
The  player  indicated  will  pick  up  the  first  indicator,  the 
player  on  his  right  the  second  indicator,  the  player  opposite 
the  third  and  the  player  to  his  left  the  east. 

The  wind  box  goes  to  the  player  picking  up  the  indicator 
on  top  of  it  who  then  places  it  in  front  of  him  to  mark  the 
seat  of  East  Wind.  The  players  then  look  at  their  indi- 
cators; the  one  drawing  the  East  Wind  indicator  becomes 
East  Wind,  and  occupies  the  seat  marked  by  the  wind  box. 
The  remaining  three  players  seat  themselves  about  the  table 
according  to  their  draw  or  wind  marker,  i.  e.,  draw  of  West 
Wind  indicator  opposite  to  East,  North  Wind  to  the  left 
and  South  Wind  to  the  right  of  him  (East). 

East  Wind  now  takes  charge  of  the  wind  box  and  the 
four  indicators  which  are  placed  in  the  wind  box  face  up 
with  East  Wind  on  top.  The  East  Wind  player  retains  the 

58 


box  until  he  loses  a  hand.  When  this  occurs  the  box  goes 
to  the  right  to  the  player  who  was  South,  but  now  becomes 
East  Wind.  The  East  Wind  indicator,  however,  still  re- 
maining on  top  as  this  designates  that  the  East  Wind  round 
is  being  played.  The  East  Wind  round  is  over  as  soon  as 
the  fourth  player  to  be  East  Wind  in  turn  loses.  He  is 
the  one  to  take  charge  of  the  East  Wind  indicator  and 
placing  the  South  Wind  indicator  on  top  to  indicate  the  South 
Wind  round,  hands  the  box  to  the  original  East  Wind  who 
now  becomes  the  first  East  Wind  of  the  South  Wind  round. 
It  will  now  be  seen  that  four  games  make  up  a  round  and 
four  rounds  make  up  a  set.  In  every  case  the  new  wind- 
round  must  commence  from  the  original  East  Wind  player 
and  the  box  is  for  the  purpose  of  indicating  which  round  of 
the  wind  is  being  played  and  who  is  the  East  Wind  in  that 
particular  hand. 

It  should  be  decided  before  starting  how  many  sets  are 
to  be  played.  Chinese  players  generally  play  from  4  to  8 
sets  in  an  evening. 

The  seats  having  been  chosen  and  winds  positioned,  the 
procedure  of  play  continues  exactly  as  has  been  described 
before.  The  wall  is  broken  and  the  tiles  drawn  in  the  same 
manner,  "Chowing,"  "Punging"  and  filling  four  of  a  kind 
are  processes  gone  about  in  the  same  manner  as  they  are 
in  the  other  type  of  game. 

Mah-Jongg  also  is  attained  in  the  same  way,  i.  e.,  com- 
pleting four  sets  and  a  pair. 

Almost  the  entire  difference  in  the  two  ways  of  playing 
the  game  is  found  in  the  scoring. 

In  the  scoring  many  new  combinations  have  been  added, 

59 


scoring  values  have  been  changed,  and  special  bonuses,  limit 
hands  and  new  doubling  honors  have  been  introduced  which 
must  now  be  taken,  one  at  a  time,  and  explained  in  detail. 
The  most  important  change  is  that  the  last  14  tiles  in  the 
wall  are  never  drawn  and  the  game  ends  and  is  a  draw  if  it 
reaches  this  point  without  conclusion. 

Loose  tiles  may  be  drawn  of  course  during  the  play,  but 
even  a  loose  tile  cannot  be  drawn  if  there  are  only  14  tiles 
left  in  the  wall  including  the  loose  tiles.  These  last  14 
tiles  are  usually  separated  a  little  from  the  rest  of  the  wall 
to  indicate  the  end. 


THE  LIMIT  HAND. 

To  keep  the  hands  down  to  a  reasonable  amount  when 
players  are  playing  for  stakes,  the  system  of  setting  a  limit 
as  to  the  number  of  points  that  can  be  scored  in  a  hand. 
This  is  usually  300  points;  in  games  giving  a  bonus  of  10 
points  for  Mah-Jongg,  and  400  in  games  giving  a  bonus 
of  20  points  for  Mah-Jongg.  East  Wind  of  course  is  liable 
for  double  the  limit  and  at  the  same  time  may  win  as  high 
as  double  the  limit  from  each  player.  To  non-winners 
settling  their  scores,  settle  the  difference  in  the  score  up  to 
the  limit  if  neither  is  East  Wind,  and  up  to  double  the  limit 
if  either  is  East  Wind. 

The  limit  is  of  course  entirely  optional,  and  may  be  set 
by  the  players  at  the  beginning  of  the  play.  A  limit  of 
600  points  between  players  seems  the  most  popular  at  present 
in  America. 

60 


WASHING  THE  TILES. 

It  is  necessary  before  going  into  "Washing  the  Tiles"  to 
explain  the  meaning  of  "Heads."  A  Head  is  a  one,  nine 
wind  or  a  dragon,  and  a  hand  containing  9  or  more  different 
"Heads"  on  the  original  hand  drawn  from  the  wall  entitles 
the  player  to  "Wash  Tiles."  He  calls  out  "no  play"  and 
exposes  his  hand,  collecting  according  to  the  following  table: 
From  each  player 

9  Heads 50  points 

10  Heads 70  points 

1 1  Heads 100  points 

12  Heads 150  points 

13  Heads 200  points 

When  washing  the  tiles  takes  place,  the  tiles  must  be 
reshuffled  and  the  wall  built  over.  East  Wind  retains  the 
"Cheung"  (wind  box)  and  not  collecting  double  when  he 
"washes  tiles"  does  not  have  to  pay  any  of  the  other  players 
double  when  they  "wash  tiles."  It  must  be  remembered  that 
in  order  to  wasih  the  tiles  the  heads  must  be  different,  that 
the  hand  must  be  the  original  13  tiles  (14  in  case  of  East 
Wind)  and  no  drawing  is  permitted. 


BON'US  SCORES 

1.  For  Mah-Jongg  or  completing  a  hand  a  bonus  is  given 
and  this  is  generally  10  points  unless  specially  agreed 
upon  to  be  so. 

2.  For  winning  hand  of  absolutely  no  scoring  value  than 
Mah-Jongg,   10  points  is  given  as  a  bonus. 

3.  For  winning  tile  drawn  by  the  player  himself   from 
the  last  tile  which  may  be  drawn  in  the  wall  doubles 
the  total  score  once    (i.  e.,  the   I5th  tile  from  the  end 
of  the  Avail) . 

4.  Winning  on   a   draw   from   a   loose   tile   doubles  total 
score    once. 

5.  To  win  on  first  card  played  a  bonus  of  half  the  limit 
hand    is  given.     Washing  cards  have   preference   over 
this  wind. 

6.  For  completing  the  hand  with  the  fourth  card  of  an 
exposed    set    of    three   of   a   kind — for    example,    if    a 
player  has  an  exposed  set  of  3  of  a  kind  and  he  draws 
or   pungs  the   fourth   tile,   and   if   this  very   tile   is  the 
winning  tile,  he  may  double  the  total  score  once. 

LIMIT  HANDS 

A  player  holding  a  winning  hand  of  any  one  of  the  fol- 
lowing combinations  receives  from  each  of  the  players  the 
full  amount  agreed  upon. 

I.  A  winning  hand  of  single  heads  one  only  of  each  with 
a  pair  of  heads  different  from  the  rest  representing  the 
final  pair. 

62 


Illustration  No.  2 

2.    A  winning  hand  containing  sets  of  heads  only  with  a 
pair  of  heads  as  the  final  pair. 


Illustration  No.  3 

3.  A  winning  hand  of  four  different  sets  of  winds  and 
any  kind  of  a  final  pair.  In  China  this  hand  is  called 
the  four  happinesses  and  superstition  has  it  that  one 
holding  this  hand  has  much  good  fortune  coming  to 
him  having  the  four  happinesses  at  his  door. 

H          "-     V     "- 

€.  E. 

K       K        V 
-^^-      ^*~      -^^*~ 

Illustration  No.  4 

The  winning  hand  of  3   different  sets  of  winds  with 
a  pair  of  the  other  winds  as  the  final  pair. 


Illustration  No.  5 
63 


5.    A  winning  hand  made  up  entirely  of  sets  of  four  oi 
a  kind  with  any  pair  as  the  final  pair. 


Illustration  No.  6 


6.  East  Wind  winning  on  original  draw  from  the  wall. 
This  wind  has  preference  over  washing  cards.     The 
Chinese  consider  this  hand  as  a  forecast  of  misfortunes 
to  come. 

7.  A   winning  hand   containing   the    3    sets   of   dragons; 
red,  green  and  white.     In  China  these  are  known  as 
the  3  Doctors  of  Literature.     The  inference  of  course 
being  that  many  tiles  must  be  turned  away  before  these 
three  sets  can  be  made  up  just  as  many  students  in 
China  are   turned   away   by  competitive  examinations 
before  the  three  best  scholars  are  chosen  to  pursue  their 
studies  at  the  Royal  Court  with  the  title  of  Doctors 
of  Literature. 

64 


SCORING  VALUES 
*WIXNING  HAND. 

Mah-Jongg    10  Points 

No  other  score  in  hand  or  on  table  than  Man-Jong . .   10  Points 

On  Table  In  Hand 

Of  three  of  a  kind  of  2  to  8 2  6 

Of  three  of  a  kind  of  heads 4  10 

Of  four  of  a  kind  2  to  8 8  16 

Of   four  of  a  kind  of   heads 16  32 

Pair  of  2  to  8  punged  to  complete  hand. ...         0  2 

Pair  of  2  to  8  drawn  to  complete  hand ....         0  4 

Pair  of  heads  punged  to  complete  hand              0  4 

Pair  of  heads  drawn  to  complete  hand 0  6 

Pair  of  the  player's  own  wind  punged  by 

him  in  his  own  wind  round  to  complete 

hand    0  6 

Pair  of  the  player's  own  wind  drawn  by 

him  in  his  own  wind  round  to  complete 

hand    0  8 

Filling   a   sequence   in   the   middle  on   the 

only  open  end  to  complete  hand By  Chow  2 

Filling  a  sequence  with  both  ends  open  by 

draw  to  complete  hand  By  draw  4 

*  Count  for  winning  hand  only. 

Other  Hands                                      On  Table  In  Hand 

Three  of  a  kind  of  2  to  8 2  4 

Three  of  a  kind  of  heads 4  8 

Four  of  a  kind  2  to  8 8  16 

Four  of  a  kind  heads 16  32 

One  pair  of  a  kind  any  dragon 2 

One  pair  of  own  wind 2 

One  pair  of  wind  of  the  round 2 

One  pair  of  players  own  wind  in  the  wind 

of  his  own  wind  round 4 

65 


EXPLANATION  OF  ITEMS  IN  THE  TABLE  OF 
SCORING  VALUES 

1.  Pair  of  2-8  punged  to  complete  hand.     A  player  must 
have  four  sets  and  a  pair  to  win.     The  above  scoring 
value  is  given  if  the  pair  is  from  2  to  8  and  if  he  pungs 
one  of   them   to   win. 

2.  Pair  of  2-8  drawn  to  complete  hand.     This  score  is 
given  as  above  when  the  player's  extra  pair  is  from 
2-8,  but  he  must  match  the  pair  by  draw. 

3.  Pair  of  heads  punged  to  complete  hand.     This  four 
points  is  given  when  player  pungs  to  match  his  final 
pair. 

4.  Pair   of    heads    drawn    to    complete   hand.      This    six 
points   is   given   when   player   draws  and  matches  his 
final  pair. 

5.  Pair  of  player's  own  wind  punged  by  him  in  his  own 
wind  round  to  complete  his  hand.     This  six  points  is 
given  to  a  player  who  "pungs"  to  match  this  final  pair 
when  his  final  pair  is  his  own  wind  and  it  is  his  own 
wind  round. 

6.  Pair  of  the  player's  own  wind  in  his  own  wind  round 
drawn  by  him  to  complete  his  hand.     This  is  similar 
to   the   one   above   except   that   the   player   draws   the 
tile   instead   of   punging   it,   thereby   getting   8   points 
instead  of  6  points. 

7.  Filling  a  sequence  in  the  middle  or  on  the  only  open 
end  to  complete  hand.    An  example  would  be  chowing 
a  6  character,  have  a  5  character  and  a  7  character, 
or  have  the  2  and  chowing  the  3   (only  open  end). 

Filling  a  sequence  with  both  ends  open,  by  draw  to  com- 

66 


plete  hand.  An  example  would  be,  having  a  7  and  8  of 
character  and  drawing  a  6  or  a  9.  In  both  this  and  the 
above  case  when  the  sequence  is  filled  by  draw,  it  must 
immediately  be  set  out  face  up  on  the  table  to  the  right  of 
player,  with  the  draw  tile  drawn  on  top  of  the  other  two 
according  to  the  illustration. 

DOUBLING  HONOR  SCORES 

1.  A  set  of  a  player's  own  wind  doubles  his  total  score 
once. 

2.  A  set  of  a  player's  own  wind  in  his  own  wind  round 
doubles  his  total  score  twice. 

3.  A  set  of  red  dragons  doubles  his  total  score  once. 

4.  A  set  of  green  dragons  doubles  his  total  score  once. 

5.  A  set  of  white  dragons  doubles  his  total  score  once. 
*6.    A  hand  of  all  one  suit  except  winds  or  dragons  doubles 

his  total  score  once. 

*7.  A  winning  hand  having  no  sequences  in  it  doubles 
the  total  score  once.  This  hand  is  known  as  "Tei  Tei 
Woo"  (mixed  sets  or  no  sequences)  among  the  Can- 
tonese Chinese. 

*8.    A   winning   hand    entirely    of   one    suit,    doubles    the 
total  score  three  times. 
*  Count  for  winning  hand  only. 

PENALTIES 

I.  In  the  event  of  a  player  announcing  Mah-Jongg  when 
his  hand  is  not  complete,  the  player  making  the  error 
must  pay  to  each  of  the  other  3  players  half  of  the 
limit.  East  Wind  receiving  full  limit  or  paying  full 
limit  as  the  case  may  be. 

67 


2.  The  one  discarding  a  tile  that  permits  another  player 
to  win  must  bear  the  entire  losses  of  all  other  players; 
if  the  player  winning  had  any  of  the  following  four 
combinations  of  tiles  exposed  at  the  time  of  discarding, 
unless  the  discarder  himself  had  two  complete  doubling 
honors  and  was  waiting  for  the  winning  tile  or  was 
waiting  for  the  winning  tile  which  would  give  him 
more  than  two  doubling  honors. 

1.  When  nine  tiles  or  more  of  the  same  suit  are  exposed 
and  the  discarded  tile  gives  a  winning  hand  on  entirely 
one  suit. 

2.  When  nine  heads  or  more   are  exposed  and  the  dis- 
carded tile  gives  a  winning  hand  of  entirely  heads. 

3.  When  two  sets  of  dragons  are  exposed  and  the  discard 
of  the  other  kind  of  dragon  gives  the  third  set  of  dragon 
in  a  winning  hand. 

4.  When  three  different  sets  of  winds  are  exposed  and 
the  discard  of  the  other  wind  gives  a  winning  hand. 


0  @ 

o        @ 

©        & 


Illustration   No.   8a 


Example  I.  Any  player  discarding  a  one  or  a  four  of  dot 
would  complete  this  hand  and  unless  he  had  two  com- 
plete doubling  honors  and  was  waiting  for  the  winning 

68 


card  or  was  waiting  for  the  winning  card  to  complete 
his  hand,  with  more  than  2  doubling  honors,  he  must 
pay  the  winner  for  all. 


111  III  HI 
HI  HI  III 
HI  111  HI 

Illustration   No.   8b 

Example  2.  Any  player  discarding  a  red  dragon  will  permit 
this  player  to  win  and  will  be  penalized  for  his  reck- 
lessness by  having  to  pay  all  scores,  unless  his  own  hand 
fulfills  the  requirements  set  out  in  Example  No.  I. 


Illustration   No.   8c 

Example  3.  A  player  discarding  a  white  dragon  is  liable  to 
the  penalty  above  mentioned,  unless  his  own  hand  ful- 
fills the  requirements  given  above  in  No.  I ;  anyone  may 
discard  a  one  of  dot  which,  though  permitting  the 
player  with  the  above  hand  to  win,  would  not  bring 
a  penalty  down  upon  the  discarder. 

69 


£  *.  E^  IfMff  N  «  * 


•     •  •     • 


*») 


Illustration   No.   8d 

Example  4.  A  player  discarding  an  East  Wind  would  allow 
this  player  to  win  and  would  be  penalized  unless  ex- 
cepted  as  in  the  other  examples.  Here  as  in  Ex.  3,  a 
discard  to  the  other  pair,  i.  e.,  a  three  of  bamboo,  would 
not  be  penalized. 
NOTE,  (a)  If  a  player  has  no  choice  in  his  discard;  that 

is  if  he  discard  the  winning  dot  to  an  all  dot  hand  when  he 

has  only  dots  to  discard,  he  is  not  penalized. 

(b)      When  a  penalty  is  imposed,  all  scores  except  that 

of   the  winning  hand   are   canceled. 

EXAMPLE  OF  WINNING  HANDS 

Note  :     Arrow  indicates  tile  which  completed  the  hand  in  the 
following  Examples. 

BRAW 


No.  1 

Player  is  East  Wind;   South  Wind  round. 

Mah-Jongg    .......................  10 

Three  8  character    (concealed)    ____  6 

Three   3    bamboo    (concealed)     ____  6 

Three  Heads   (1  dot)    (concealed)..  10 

Three  5  character    (exposed)    ......  2 

Pair  of  Heads  drawn  (1  character)  6 


40  Total  Score 
70 


For  no  sequences  double  once    ..........     80  Total  Score 

East    Wind    collects    double     if     winning 
double  once    ..........................    160  From  each  player 

T(JH& 

*  >  >  *  *  •*  i  v  •  's  *    in 

No.  2 

Player  is  North  Wind  in  North  Wind  round. 

Mah-  Jongg    ...................................  10 

Three  of  Heads  (9  character)    (concealed)  ......  10 

Three  of  Heads  (North  Wind)   (concealed)  .....  10 

Three  Bamboo  (concealed)   ....................  6 

Three  of  Heads   (Red  Dragon  )    (exposed)  .....  4 

40 
For  three  red  dragons  double  once  ..............     80 

160 

For    three    of    own    wind    in    own    wind    round 
double   twice    ...............................  320 

For  no  sequence  double  once  ....................  640 

Player  would  collect  1280  from  East  Wind  and  640  from 
other  two  winds.  If  his  score  640  were  over  the  limit  he 
would  collect  double  the  limit  from  East  and  only  the  limit 
from  South  and  West  respectively. 

PUNG 

4- 
Vv          -% 


ill 


No.  3 

71 


No.  3 
North  Wind — East  Wind  round. 

Mah-Jongg    10 

Three  Heads  (red  dragon)    (exposed) 4 

Three  7  character   (exposed)    2 


26 
For  three  red  dragons  double  once 52 

Player  collects  104  from  East  Wind;  52  from  South  and 

West. 

DRAW 

M  u  M  V  m"  HI  r  r  r  jt  i      III 

II    J*I.    8   S     ill     III     III     «•      W      fr     1**    •**"  SP      fr      t 

No.  4 
Player  is  North  Wind  in  East  Wind  Round. 

Mah-Jongg  10 

Three  of  Heads  (red  dragons) 

(exposed)  4 

Three  of  Heads  (green  dragons) 

(concealed)  10 

Three  of  Heads  (nine  bamboo) 

(concealed)  10 

Three  of  bamboo  (concealed) 6 

Completing  pair  of  player's  own  wind 

in  his  own  wind  round  by  draw . .       8 


48  Total  Score 

For  bo  sequences  double  once 96 

For  three  red  dragons  double  once . .   192 

For  three  green  dragons  double  once  384  Final  Score 

Players  collect  768  from  East;  384  from  West  and  South. 

*  1  a  »  ?  >  I  I  I  '*  '*  '*  *  * 

No.  5 

Winning  hand  of  "Single  Heads."  One  of  the  "Limit" 
Hands,  player  collecting  double  the  limit  from  East  and  only 
the  limit  from  the  others. 

72 


in    an    in 

III     HI     III 


No.  6 

Winning  hand  containing  sets  of  heads  only;  this  is  a 
"Limit  Hand,"  winner  collecting  double  the  limit  from  East 
and  only  the  limit  from  the  other  two  players. 


No.  7 

Winning  hand  containing  all  three  sets  of  dragons  and 
any  other  set  and  pair.  This  is  a  "Limit  Hand,"  winner 
collecting  double  from  East  and  the  limit  from  the  other 
two  players.  In  all  limit  hand  cases,  East  Wind,  if  winner, 
collects  double  limit  from  All  players. 


DRAW 
•I 

3 

0 


A     4) 


No.  8 
73 


Player  is  South  Wind  in  South  Wind  Round. 

Mah-Jongg    10 

Three  Heads  (white  dragons)  (con- 
cealed)    10 

Three  4  dot    (exposed) 2 

Three  Heads  (9  dot)    (exposed)....  4 

Filling  sequence  in  middle  by  draw 

to  win  4 

Pair  of  own  wind  in  own  wind 

round  4 

34  Total  Score 

For  three  white  dragons  double  once    68 
For  all  one   suit  except   winds   and 
dragons  double  once    136  Final  Score 

Players  collect  272  from  East,  136  from  North  and  West. 
DRAW 


£ 


I   II 
I 


II    !I    II 
II    II    I! 


Ill  'JL1 

III  in 

III  III 

III  III  ill 

No.  9 

Player  is  East  Wind  in  South  Wind  round. 

74 


Mah-Jongg    10 

Three  4  bamboo  (exposed)    2 

Three  6  bamboo  (exposed)   2 

Pair  of  Heads,  completed  by  draw..  6 


20  Total  Score 

For  all  one  suit  double  three  times . .     40 

80 
160  Final  Score 

Double    because    East    Wind    collects    double    when    winning   320 
from  each  player 

DRAW 
* 

k    %V    %     «ap    ^  oe  a© 

*    *  <>e 


EBfl   IBS    »» 

n  in  HI 

I  III 


No.  10 


Player's  West  Wind — East  Wind  round. 

Mah-Jongg   10 

Four  Heads  (red  dragons)  (ex- 
posed )  16 

Three  4  characters   (exposed) 2 

Filling  a  sequence  on  the  only  open 

end  4 

32  Total  Score 
For  four  red  dragons  double  once . .     64  Final  Score 

Player  collects    128   from   East  and  64   from  West  and 
South. 

75 


TWO  AND   THREE-HANDED   GAMES 

Three  or  even  two  may  play  Pung  Chow,  though  the  game 
is  essentially  a  four-handed  affair.  It  is  played  by  two  01 
three  people  in  exactly  the  same  way  that  it  is  played  by 
four,  each  player  building  up  his  own  side  of  the  wall  and 
then  combining  to  build  the  fourth  side. 

This  fourth  side  is  regarded  as  the  dummy  wall.  In  the 
building  and  breaking  down  of  the  wall,  East  Wind  acts 
for  the  dummy,  throwing  the  dice  for  it  whenever  indicated. 
The  three  players  then  draw  their  original  hand  and 
ignore  the  dummy  the  rest  of  the  game,  playing  in  regular 
routine  and  omitting  the  dummy's  turn  of  play. 

When  two  play  alone,  each  builds  two  sides  of  the  wall 
and  arrange  the  usual  wall.  Then  they  throw  the  dice,  East 
Wind  throwing  for  either  of  the  two  dummies,  both  draw 
their  original  hands  and  draw  and  discard  alternately  until 
one  wins. 

Of  course  when  two  or  three  play  there  is  less  opposition 
or  conflict  and  far  greater  possibilities  in  the  draw  than  in  the 
four-handed  game.  On  this  account,  higher  scores  are  the 
rule  rather  than  the  exception,  making  a  more  exciting  and 
entertaining  game  but  hardly  one  upon  which  stakes  could 
be  safely  set. 


76 


Table  of  Contents 

PART  I 
Playing  Without  a  Limit 

Introduction   7 

Summary  of  the  Game  9 

Description  of  Tiles    11 

Procedure  of  Play 13 

A— East  Wind   13 

B — Building  and  Breaking  the  Wall 13 

C — Drawing  Original  Hand 16 

D— Playing  the  Hand 16 

E— To  "Chow"  18 

F_To  "Pung" 19 

Four  of  a  Kind 22 

Mah-Jongg  or  Mah-Diao 24 

Settling  the   Scores 25 

Suggestions  for  Careful  Playing  of  Hands 26 

Use  of  the  Mandarins  (Flowers  and  Seasons) 29 

Score  Card 29" 

Examples  of  Hands  and  how  they  are  scored 32 

Illustrations  of  Score  Settling 46 

PART  II 

Playing  with  a  Limit 56 

Procedure  of  Play 57 

A — The  limit  hand 60 

B — Washing  the  tiles 61 

Bonus  Scores  62 

Limit  Hands 62 

Scoring   Values    65 

Explanation  of  Scoring  Values 66 

Doubling   Honor    Scores 67 

Penalties   67 

Examples   of   Winning  Hands  70 

Two  and  Three-Handed  Games  76 

77 


Pung-Cnow 

The  Game  of  A  Hundred  Intelligences 


The  game  which  is  rapidly  replacing  bridge  and 
other  card  games,  as  well  as  other  forms  of 
indoor  pastimes. 

Pung  Chow  is  an  American  product  differing  from 
the  imported  sets  only  in  the  following  points: 

It  is  more  pleasing  to  the  eye  and  the  touch. 

The  beautiful  Oriental  colors  are  fast  and  cannot 
rub  off,  even  though  the  pieces  be  scrubbed  with 
soap  and  water. 

The  pieces  will  not  become  sticky  from  the  moisture 
of  the  hand. 

Pung  Chow  pieces  are  not  affected  by  the  climate 
and  will  never  work  loose. 

Should  one  or  more  pieces  be  lost  they  may  be 
easily  and  quickly  replaced. 

Pung  Chow  is  an  article  of  beauty  and  quality  and 
is  practically  indestructible. 


Manufactured  by 

PUNG  CHOW  CO.,  Inc. 

30  Church  Street,  New  York  City 


Drive 


ie 


Univers 
Sout] 
Lib] 


